Method of making large headed nails



Dec. 27, 1955 Filed Dec. 8, 1952 P. W. KRIDLER METHOD OF MAKING LARGE HEADED NAILS 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 724014 I /7. ?/1 e ATTORNEY Dec. 27, 1955 P. w. KRIDLER 2,728,093

METHOD OF MAKING LARGE HEADED NAILS Filed Dec. 8, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR IE- 5 P/IIILLIP h. fl/mae ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,728,093 7 METHOD OF MAKING LARGE HEADED NAILS Philip W. Kridler, Detroit, Mich. Application December 8, 1952, Serial No. 324,678 1 Claim. (Cl. 10-161) This invention relates to the manufacture of big headed nails of the type widely used in the roofing trade, in attaching upholstery to furniture and in other fields where a nail is required to have a large head.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved nail and to teach a method of making big headed nails faster and more economically than can be done according to conventional methods.

Another object is to provide an improved method for retaining a head on its shank or nail stem so that the head will not lose its position with respect to its shank upon being driven, thus overcoming a common fault, particularly of roofing nails.

A specific object is to provide a new type of cut-off tools which will simultaneously form the end of one nail and the head portion of a succeeding nail, the head portion of the said succeeding nail being so shaped as to be adapted to receive head blanks from a hopper.

Other objects and advantages will become hereinafter more fully apparent as reference is had to the accompanying drawings wherein my invention is illustrated and in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic front elevation of the cutotf dies, gripper dies and ram of a nail forming machine, showing a nail which has just been made thereby according to my invention,

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 with the tools shown in vertical section and showing the next step in the method according to which the formed nail is being removed,

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, showing the next step in the method and also showing a head blank hopper diagrammatically,

Figure 4 is a horizontal 44 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the next step in the method after release of a head blank by the hopper, the hopper being withdrawn from view,

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the next step in the method, showing the ram depressed,

Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken along the line 7--7 of Figure 5,

Figure 8 is a view similar to partially retracted,

Figure 9 is a horizontal section taken along the line 99 of Figure 8, and

Figure 10 is a side elevation of a finished nail.

More specifically, 1 indicates the gripper jaws of a nail making machine which are actuated by arms 2 to move the jaws 1 toward and away from each other. When the jaws are slightly apart, a wire 3 is fed between the jaws 1, being guided by the half grooves 4 formed vertically in the jaws. The wire 3 is of a type suitable for use as nail stems and is fed by means not pertinent to this invention and not illustrated. The wire 3 is fed in steps, the timing being such that as the jaws 1 open slightly, wire is fed through the composite groove 4 in an amount equal to one nail stem blank, whereupon the gripper jaws 1 section taken along the line Figure 6 showing the ram shows the final step close tightly around it in order to hold it until a nail is formed. This requires that the blank be of such length as to project upwardly from the jaws 1 into the space immediately thereabove in which the cut-0E dies function.

The next step in the operation is the closing of the cut-01f dies 5 on the stem blank.

Since the machine operates continuously, Figure 1 in the manufacture of one nail 6, this final step being also the first step in the manufacture of a succeeding nail. In this figure, the gripper jaws are tightly gripping the Wire 3 and the cut-off dies 5 have been actuated by pusher rods 7 to closed position. As best seen in the sectional view through the dies (Figure 2), the dies are of such shape that they shear the wire 3 at a point 10 which determines the lower end of the nail 6 and they taper the bottom of the stem of the nail 6 while simultaneously tapering the remaining end 9 of the wire 3.

As the cut-01f dies 5 open, as shown in Figure 2, a sweeper arm 8 throws the completed nail 6 away from the dies 5 into a basket (not shown), leaving the tapered end 11 firmly held by the jaws 1.

As the gripper dies 5 complete their withdrawal from the end 11 a nail head blank hopper 12 swings into position by timed means not illustrated, and releases a nail head blank 13, as shown in Figure 3. The blank 13 is round and flat and has a central opening 14 centrally therethrough, this opening being slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the wire 3 so that the blank will come to rest on the tapered portion of the end 11, as illustrated in Figure 5.

As the hopper 12 releases a blank 13 it then moves out of the way of a ram 15, which is arranged to reciprocate toward and away from the tapered end of the wire 3 and in a direction axially thereof. it then moves downwardly to the position illustrated in Figure 6.

It will be noted that the top of the gripper jaws 1 also serve as dies for the formation of the nail blank into the nail head. They have shaped depressions 16 by which the ram 15 imparts to the blank 13 a shape which is arcuate in cross-section, and they act as an anvil for the ram 15 in upsetting the exposed end of the Wire 3. The working surface 17 of the ram 15 is arcuate in crosssection with its apex relieved at 18 so that, in upsetting the exposed end of the Wire 3 it causes the end to fill the opening 14 as indicated at 19. The head of the nail thus formed from the blank 16 is thus snared between the metal which overflows the opening 14 and the bottom of the taper of the end 11.

As the ram 15 then retracts or lifts, the gripper jaws 1 move apart, as shown in Figure 8. Soon thereafter the wire 3 is moved upwardly in the composite groove 4 one nail stem length, whereupon the gripper jaws close on it and thereafter the cutter dies 5 close, as previously described.

Slight changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and I therefore desire to be extended protection as defined by the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A cyclic method of forming a succession of big-headed nails from a continuous strip of nail stem wire including the steps of gripping said strip adjacent its free end, shear ing said wire substantially adjacent the gripped portion while tapering both sheared ends away from the point of shear, removing the free nail stem formed by said shearing, providing a head blank having a central opening slightly smaller than the diameter of said wire, applying said head blank to the tapered end of said continuous strip while the strip remains gripped whereby the tapered end extends partially through the opening centrally of said blank and said blank comes to rest on the lower part References. Cited .imthe. file of. this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lovell Apr; 27, 1886 10 4. Eiske; A111,. 2.1, 1888, Moran Feb. 28, 1892 Wickschtrom Apr. 25, 1911 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 Great Britain Apr. 5, 1910 Great Britain Sept. 8, 1921 Great Britain" June 8, 1933 

